Leo (2023)
Breaking out this November.
Jaded 74-year-old lizard Leo has been stuck in the same Florida classroom for decades with his terrarium-mate turtle. When he learns he only has one year left to live, he plans to escape to experience life on the outside but instead gets caught up in the problems of his anxious students — including an impossibly mean substitute teacher.
In Leo, consciousness is carried by animals — a plane of “talking classroom pets”. The story fights on E8/E9 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing identity, purpose, mortality, community, education.
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)E8/E9 · community, identity
The Emperor's New Groove (2000)E8/E9 · community, identity
Open Season (2006)E8/E9 · community, identity
Surf's Up (2007)E8/E9 · community, identity
The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019)E8/E9 · identity, mortality
Synecdoche, New York (2008)E8/E9 · identity, mortalitySame subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
Also bends a rule of reality
Other films that change a standing rule of their world — ranked first by those bending it at the same rung.
A Dog's Purpose (2017)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Bring the Soul: The Movie (2019)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Soul (2020)alters at E8 · same rung · rigorous
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Every Day (2018)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Open Your Eyes (1997)alters at E8 · same rung · looseAlso hides consciousness here
Other films that move a human interior onto the same kind of thing.
Charlotte's Web (1973)consciousness in animals · anthropomorphic barn
Finding Nemo (2003)consciousness in animals · anthropomorphic ocean
The Secret Life of Pets (2016)consciousness in animals · pet metropolis
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012)consciousness in animals · anthropomorphic circus
Horton Hears a Who! (2008)consciousness in animals · jungle micro‑society
The Angry Birds Movie (2016)consciousness in animals · anthropomorphic bird islandSame subject, different mask
The same preoccupations carried by a different kind of thing — grief told through the dead, an animal, a machine.
What We Do in the Shadows (2014)consciousness in monsters · community, identity
Smurfs: The Lost Village (2017)consciousness in monsters · community, identity
Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022)consciousness carried elsewhere · community, identity
Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)consciousness carried elsewhere · identity, mortality
Toy Story 2 (1999)consciousness in objects · identity, mortality
Toy Story 4 (2019)consciousness in objects · identity, purpose
